March 5, 2006
Final Stats |
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ALBANY, N.Y.-The top-seeded Marist women's basketball squad (23-6) defeated third-seeded Loyola 68-57 Sunday afternoon in the MAAC Championship game at the Pepsi Arena. Redshirt sophomore Meg Dahlman (Spencerport, N.Y.) won Most Valuable Player honors, scoring 15 points and snaring 11 boards in the title match. The championship is Marist's second after winning the 2004 crown, which was also held in Albany.
After a few quick possessions by both teams, Marist led 6-5 at 17:41 but soon proved why they were the number one seed. The Red Foxes went on an 11-0 run during the next four minutes, capped on each end by triples from Julianne Viani (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) and Nikki Flores (Montvale, N.J.). Marist gave up a few buckets to the Greyhounds including a three from Krystle Harrington to take it to 18-11, Foxes at 12:22.
The Red Foxes kicked it into even higher gear, going on an 18-0 run to double their advantage to 36-11 at 7:00. The run included four three-pointers including two from sophomore guard Courtney Kolesar (Painesville, Ohio). Loyola managed to regroup after a missed three by the Foxes to kick-off a 9-0 run of its own, down 36-20 at 2:29. The teams were balanced for the remainder of the half, with the Foxes taking a 41-25 lead into the locker room after a pair of made free-throws by Sarah Smrdel (Mentor, Ohio).
Marist picked up where it left off in the second, scoring eight straight points including a triple from Dahlman and a conventional three-point play from senior Kristen Vilardi (Fishkill, N.Y.). With Marist ahead 49-25, the Greyhounds did not give in, scoring six straight of their own to close the gap to 18. Loyola continued to battle throughout the half, slowly chipping away at Marist's lead. Jackie Valderas cut the Marist advantage to 10 points, down 55-45 at 8:32.
Each time Loyola tried to get the lead below 10, Marist would hit a critical bucket and was up 61-49 at 6:18. Loyola then went on an 8-0 run including four points from Jill Glessner to cut Marist's lead to 61-57 at 2:03.
Just as in the semifinals, the Red Foxes' defense carried then down the homestretch, holding the Greyhounds scoreless during the next two minutes while hitting 7-8 free-throws to seal the win.
Marist had three players in double figures including Dahlman's 15, Flores with 14 and Fifi Camara (Conakry, Guinea) with 10. Three Red Foxes also had double-digit rebounds including Smrdel's game-leading 13, Dahlman's 10 and Alisa Kresge's (Holmdel, N.J.) 10 to go along with six assists and seven points.
The Red Foxes have earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history.
